Nets-Heat Preview

By TIM REYNOLDSPosted May 13 2014 3:58PM

MIAMI (AP) The Miami Heat are a game away from a fourth straight trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

And it's like they haven't even noticed.

Almost from the moment Game 4 of this East second-round series against the Brooklyn Nets ended, the moment where the Heat took complete control of the matchup by riding the strength of LeBron James' 49-point night in a 102-96 victory, all the attention was directed toward what the two-time defending NBA champions figure to be their biggest challenge yet.

The test: Game 5 on Wednesday, when the Nets' season will be at stake.

"This team is not going to give us the game," Heat guard Dwyane Wade cautioned, minutes after his team took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. "This series is far from over."

That's exactly the mindset Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wants his team to have. Recent history, though, would suggest that Miami is on the brink of advancing.

Since James, Wade and Chris Bosh became teammates, the Heat are 8-0 in home games that could end a series. Two of those wins came against Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett when they were wearing Boston green.

"It's Game 5. We understand what's at stake," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "It's Game 7 for us from here on out. If we lose, it's over. If we win, we fight another day. We can only focus on Game 5 and one quarter at a time."

The task is daunting, without question. For Brooklyn to prevail, it needs to beat the Heat three times in five days, two of those games in Miami, and do so with James coming off a scoring show that matched the best of his postseason career. He made 16 of 24 shots in Game 4, carrying Miami for much of the night.

Brooklyn guard Joe Johnson said after the game that James flopped. Even that didn't get a reaction out of the four-time NBA MVP, who seems as businesslike as ever.

"Win," James said when asked what the Game 5 mentality will be for Miami. "It's the mentality we go into every postseason game. Play with a sense of urgency defensively, help one another, communicate, try to get the ball moving offensively, get it moving from one side to another and attack. If we do those things, if we do it with a clear mind but at the same time an aggressive mind, we give ourselves a good chance to win."

He was disappointed Monday night after missing a free throw that would have given him 50 points.

That's forgotten now. To James, the only number that matters is four - the win that would send Miami back to the NBA's Final Four.

"The wise one knows that you don't go into it thinking `This is it,"' Heat guard Ray Allen said. "You have to still build on all your habits. You have to go out there and you have to get better. If this is a closeout game, then we don't want to just settle for how we played. We want to get better and think about where we can potentially go."

Brooklyn has won in Miami twice this season, both part of the Nets' 4-0 regular-season sweep of the Heat.

But in this series, the MVP has been the difference.

James alone is averaging 30.3 points through four games. Johnson and Pierce, Brooklyn's top two scorers so far in the series, are combining to average 29.5.

"To win the whole series, you need to win on the road anyway," Brooklyn forward Andrei Kirilenko said. "It's going to be a huge challenge for us but the series is not over yet, so we are going to fight."

Miami would expect nothing less.

That's why Spoelstra told - ordered would be a more accurate term - his team to take Tuesday off and rest. Coaches were at the arena in Miami studying film; no new material was made available to players, underscoring the decree from Spoelstra that players come in Wednesday ready for the toughest game yet.

"We wouldn't expect anything else," Spoelstra said. "It's a veteran team. It's not the first time they've been in a situation like this. Both teams know what's at stake. It's great competition. You have to embrace it. We'll have to earn it."

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Heat rally past Nets to East finals, 96-94

By TIM REYNOLDSPosted May 15 2014 9:52AM

MIAMI (AP) LeBron James leaped onto a courtside table as the postgame celebration was starting, thumped his chest and punched the air.

Next stop: The Eastern Conference finals. Again.

James scored 29 points, Dwyane Wade added 28 and Ray Allen delivered two huge plays in the final seconds as the Heat rallied to beat the Brooklyn Nets 96-94 on Wednesday night, winning the second-round matchup 4-1.

"It's always been like that for us," James said. "It's never easy. It's never easy for us."

Sure looks easy, though. It was the 10th straight series win for the two-time defending NBA champions.

"When we met the first day for prep we said the No. 1 key, overwhelmingly the No. 1 key in this series, was great mental stability," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

"That's what it was down the stretch ... incredible focus."

Incredible defense, too, when it was needed most.

Down by eight with less than five minutes left, the Heat forced Brooklyn into nine straight missed shots while peeling off a 12-0 run to take the lead. Allen's 3-pointer off an assist by Mario Chalmers with 32 seconds remaining was the go-ahead moment, and the Heat wouldn't trail again.

Allen disrupted Joe Johnson's dribble on the game's final play, James then swiped the ball out of everyone's reach, time expired - and the Heat advanced.

"Give the Heat credit," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "They were attacking there in the fourth quarter. We were attacking. Both teams were attacking. They made plays, they made shots and we didn't."

It's the sixth trip to the East title series in the last 10 seasons for Miami, which is bidding for a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals - something only the Lakers and Celtics franchises have accomplished.

James is heading to the East finals for the sixth time in eight seasons, the first two of those trips coming with Cleveland in 2007 and 2009.

The Heat will next face either fifth-seeded Washington or top-seeded Indiana. The Pacers lead that series 3-2, one win away from setting up a rematch with Miami that seemed like an absolute certainty for much of the season.

"Obviously, we thought this was a game we should have won," Johnson said.

Brooklyn led 49-42 at the half, with Miami missing 15 of its first 16 tries from 3-point range. The Nets closed the half on an 8-0 run and the lone bright spot in the opening 24 minutes for Miami was Wade, who had 20 points - more than any other two players to that point combined - on 7-for-12 shooting.

"He has a way, right? He's a playoff warrior," Spoelstra said.

Eventually, barely, Miami broke through. But it took most of the second half to get there, since whenever Miami tried to put together a run Brooklyn found a way to keep things together.

- A layup from James late in the third got the Heat within three; a minute later, the margin was eight again.

- A free throw from James with 9:03 left cut Brooklyn's lead to 77-73; less than a minute later, it was 82-73 after a 3-pointer by Pierce.

- A 3-pointer by Bosh made it a four-point game again; two Brooklyn possessions and zero Miami stops later, it was 86-78 after a sensational step-back jumper by Johnson. And when Johnson connected on another tough shot with 4:49 left, it was 91-83 and the Nets could sense that the night would be theirs.

Then the Heat scored the next 12 points, and that was enough.

Barely, but enough.

"For us, it was just about getting stops," Wade said. "We knew offensively that we needed to execute, but we knew we weren't going to win the game unless we got some stops."

For the Nets, more than $180 million in salary and luxury tax was supposed to bring a championship. Instead, billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov got only a trip to the second round as his return on a massive investment. Brooklyn lost center Brook Lopez to a broken foot after 17 games, struggled through the first two months of the season, then turned it on after Jan. 1.

"We fought back and hung in there this year," Williams said. "A lot of people counted us out."

Some big decisions - mainly regarding the futures of Pierce and Kevin Garnett - will have to be made by the Nets. Pierce will be a free agent; Garnett has a year left on his deal, though it's been speculated he will consider retirement.

Garnett left without comment.

"Emotions are too fresh right now," Pierce said.

Miami's future is more clear. The East finals await.

NOTES: Wade had 12 points in the first quarter, his highest-scoring output from an opening period in his last 179 regular-season and playoff games. ... Both of Johnson's 30-point games in these playoffs came on the road. He had 32 at Toronto on April 30.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Heat 96, Nets 94

THE FACT: The Miami Heat advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for a fourth straight year.

THE LEAD: The Miami Heat trailed for most of the second half, but once again it was Ray Allen to the rescue. The veteran guard hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the Heat's 96-94 victory Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Heat won the series 4-1, advancing to play either the Washington Wizards or Indiana Pacers in the conference finals.

The Heat needed a late defensive stop to hold off a Nets team trying to keep its season alive. Trailing by two, Brooklyn had a chance to force overtime but Joe Johnson failed to get off a shot after being swiped twice by James and Allen. James grabbed the loose ball as time expired.

Johnson led all scorers with 34 points.

QUOTABLE: "Overwhelmingly, the No. 1 key in this series was great mental stability. You have to have throughout the course of each game, each possession. That's what it was down the stretch. You can't get caught up in frustrations, you can't get caught up in trying to get a 10-point play. It just takes incredible focus, to concentrate one possession at a time. -- Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

THE STAT: The Heat made 29 of 31 free throws.

TURNING POINT: Trailing 91-83 with 4:49 left, the Heat went on a 12-0 run to complete the fourth-quarter comeback.

QUOTABLE II: "Well, you give the Heat credit. They were attacking there in the fourth quarter. Again, we were attacking. They made plays. They made shots and we didn't ... It happens."-- Nets coach Jason Kidd

HOT: Wade turned in his best performance of the postseason. For three quarters, he essentially carried the Heat until James chimed in. It was definitely a vintage Wade effort.

NOT: Nets center Kevin Garnett ended perhaps one of the worst series of his career. He was a non-factor for the fifth straight games, finishing with two points on 1 of 3 shooting. Garnett was hardly the defensive or offensive presence he's been in year's past.

GOOD MOVE: For a second straight game, Mario Chalmers made the Nets pay with the extra pass. This time, he found Allen in the corner for the go-ahead 3-pointer. In Game 4, Chalmers made the pass to Bosh for the winner.

BAD MOVE: The Nets had poor execution down the stretch for a second straight game. There was little play-calling on the final possessions, just a lot of isolation. Although Johnson was solid, at some point James was going to make the defensive adjustment.

NOTABLE: This was Miami's 10 consecutive series win....Brooklyn outscored the Het 42-28 in the pain...In the 'Big 3' era, Miami is 35-7 at home in the postseason. In this same span, the Heat are 9-0 at home in closeout games.